Promote your Porsche with a Swindon Powertrain Cylinder Head
October 20, 2023
“I need more power from my Porsche 993” said no one, ever. Surely only the truly unhinged or inherently bored would ever become so complacent with a standard car’s ample horsepower as to want to go faster but Swindon Powertrain have obviously spotted a gap in the market and there are such people out there because it is now offering a bespoke 24-valve cylinder head kit that transforms Porsche 964 and 993 engine performance. And we’re all for it. Hey, we’ve never claimed to be a sensible bunch when it comes to modifying cars here at Car & Classic…
The M64 Cylinder Head Kit offers those with the know how and tooling a direct retro fit, four valve per cylinder upgrade to extract more power from their Porsche 964 and 993 air-cooled engines. We’re of course talking about engine builders and Porsche specialists here, a Halford’s socket set, ‘family’ and a six pack of Coronas isn’t really going to cut it in this instance, we’re sad to say.
Engineered for high performance, not only is the Swindon Powertrain kit designed for up to 12,000rpm but it also saves 3.5kg over the standard cylinder heads, which is quite a lot in air-cooled land. Make no mistake, this is very much intended for track and race applications. That’s not to say Porsche didn’t know what they were doing when they put these engines together but even with expensive, high performance machines there are still rules to follow and bottom lines to manage, and let’s not forget, as amazing and legendary as the air-cooled engines of the 964 and 993 models are, they’re still based on pretty dated engineering architecture.
Case in point, the production Porsche 964 and 993 air-cooled engines are reliant on a traditional, low flow, two-valve per cylinder setup which inherently limits the total valve area, which in simple techy terms restricts the amount of air entering the combustion chamber during each cycle. This therefore restricts the size of the explosion and as we all know, the bigger the bang, the more powerful the engine and the faster the car.
What the Swindon Powertrain head does is offer twice the number of valves per cylinder over a standard head, substantially increasing peak air flow and subsequently peak power. The kit also comprises titanium inlet and exhaust valves with lighter springs (causing less stress to the rockers and allowing for higher rpm), caps, collets, shims, finger followers and shafts, alongside camshafts, cam covers, and timing drive input. With a host of motorsport experience under its belt, from Formula One to rallying and Touring Cars, it’s safe to assume that Swindon Powertrain knows its onions when it comes to squeezing extra juice from an engine with managing director Raphaël Caillé telling us: “Our extensive research and development programme enabled us to eliminate the compromises of the standard engine to create arguably, the ultimate cylinder head for an air-cooled 911”.
At a bullseye under thirty grand it ain’t cheap but then this is a top tier, precision engineered bit of kit and if you’re cutting about in a 993 then chances are you’ve got a bit of cash floating about anyway. And if you aren’t lucky enough to be driving Porsche’s mid-nineties flagship 911 then why not pick one up, like this rather stunning ’94 Carrera for example, and go the extra mile by installing a Swindon Powertrain 24-valve head? Go on, treat yourself. Just promise you’ll let us have a go, won’t you?
